Hand guards and heated gloves.........that's it.

 

Hippo Hands or similar + heated grips

 

I've tried heated grips, hand guards, hippo hands, glove liners...still freezing off my finger tips.

The closest I have come to comfort in below freezing weather is a good pair of winter gloves. I walked into a local bike dealership and just asked for the warmest gloves they sold, then gritted my teeth as I handed over my credit card. They were a vast improvement over any of my former (admittedly cheap) gloves.

So now I have my super expensive winter gloves, hand guards and heated grips and I get by. I think the only improvement I could make would be to get some heated gloves but I have no experience with them and I am reluctant to risk that amount of money.

The hippo hands, strangely, did not result in significant improvement.

 

I've had good luck with Klim Inversion gloves now I see they make the Inversion pro's they are like your friend recommended they don't let the wind through very light weight

 

The closest I've been able to come to having warm hands has been layering a pair of those stretchy thermal gloves under leather winter riding gauntlets. On a long ride in sub-freezing weather, my fingertips will still get cold, but that's the combination that comes as close as I've ever found to toasty hands.

I've never had heated grips, so those may work just fine and I wouldn't know, so I'll bow to the greater experience of those that have them.

 

I do 10 min warm up exercises to get the blood flowing before riding. Keeping hydrated is important for proper blood flow. I will also throw on another layer to keep my core temp up so that I'm a little too warm walking but just right riding.

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Those are good points that are not often made. I do very well with heated grips plus hippo hands (which sadly are no longer made). The trick is to turn the grip heat up relatively high to begin with and then turn it down incrementally to a steady steady state of comfort. If you let your hands get cold, it takes a while to get them warm again, even when running max grip heat. Anyway, I just ordered a pair of Firstgear heated gloves, not because I find it necessary for the Strom, but because I am pretty sure I am going to replace the Strom with an FJR, on which the hippo hands won't fit right. If that is to be the case, I will be selling my beloved hippo hands, plus the Vee, luggage, and other farkles.

 

I rode to my dealer this past Saturday... It's about a 45 minute ride, and when I left the house it was just around 20°F. I have heavy duty A* Tech Road winter gloves, and 20 minutes into the ride, my fingertips were red and hurting. I figure *NO* glove by itself is going to fix that situation, on a bike.

I'm not getting heated gear in Atlanta (where you *may* need it just a few days out of the year).

A friend suggested these... Thought it was a good idea... activate them, and slip one into each glove for those mandatory freezing weather rides. I imagine the heat has to radiate to some degree up into the fingers if you get the thing as high as possible into the glove:

HeatMax HotHands Hand Warmers, 40 pairs - Walmart.com

 

Best I've found is fingerless cycling gloves under normal gloves. Those don't add much bulk and the open weave traps a layer of air between your hand and the outer glove.
With handguards that's enough to keep the centre of my hand warm and the blood flowing to my fingers.

Admitted, doesn't often get cold enough to care here , but it has been tested with snow on the ground.

Pete

 

I have at least 30 pairs of gloves. My favorite winter non-heated gloves are Tourmaster Winter Elite. Under 30 degrees, it's gotta be heated gloves for me -- bottom line: it really depends on how long you're gonna be out.

 

+1 on the Tourmaster Winter Elites. I have worn mine down to 27°F with a poly type liner glove and my hand and fingers have been fine on a 20 minute commute. Now the rest of me about froze. :mrgreen:

 

Most important

you cannot expect your hands to stay warm if your core isn't

you body will slow flow of warm blood to your extremities, fingers first, even the best gloves won't help

 

I am wondering how much the stock hand guards will help.
Thanks in advance,
Derek

Stock hand guards help a lot.
I am commuting in same area than you (this morning 22f) and I have no problems with had guards and good winter gloves.
Stock hand guard are easy to install and take off if you don't like them on hot weather.

 

Warm?

So far, I have grip warmers that I hope I never have to do without again and I use wind-proof, water-proof textile gloves that have an insulation liner. But I don't use the liner. The gloves, therefore fit me really loosely (dexterity suffers some) and has a nice warm layer of air inside that can circulate to my fingers. If I keep my palms warm on the grips, the fingers get some warmth from blood flow AND air flow. Not absolutely perfect but works pretty well for me and I have a problem with my hands getting cold off the bike. Gauntlets help with keeping wind from going up your sleeves.

 

I use standard winter gauntlets , that are good down to around 35. Below that , I have a pair of snowmoble style mit gauntlet. I have ridden into the single digits twice in the last 2-3 weeks here in Ga. and high teens , and low twenties seems to be our winter this season. Am I warm ? No , but I'm not freezing like I would be with the 1st gloves. My core is warm , as is the rest of me. I am eyeballing heated grips , even though I live in Georgia. 70.00 is a small price to pay for comfort.

 

I am eyeballing heated grips , even though I live in Georgia. 70.00 is a small price to pay for comfort.

I use them all year, great in the rain or if you have arthritis in your hands.

 

For me hand guards and Gerbing heated gloves but even with that combination at 25 degrees certain fingers start to get cold.

 

The chemical heat packs work, but maybe the expense is too high for everyday commuting. Costco sells them at a good price in a big box.

Put the heat packs on the backs of your hands inside the gloves. They warm the blood going to your finger tips. Many ski gloves have zippered compartments on the backs for the packs.

To add to Randyo's comments...wear a warm helmet liner or balaclava to keep the brain warm. Wear warm layers, maybe a heated jacket liner or vest, to keep the body core warm. This helps keep the extremities warm, but isn't the whole solution.

 

To add to Randyo's comments...wear a warm helmet liner or balaclava to keep the brain warm. Wear warm layers, maybe a heated jacket liner or vest, to keep the body core warm. This helps keep the extremities warm, but isn't the whole solution.

Randy's the king of winter riding. I'd just add that a good addition to your layers is a windproof one. Help a lot if you're gonna be out a few hours.

 

I use Gerbings heated jacket and heated gloves. I rode when it was 9 degrees and I was toasty warm. I did get some strange looks from people in cars tho :jawdrop:

 

I've ridden every day this year so far. I commute to work daily, coldest so far this year was 3 degrees. I use Gerbings T5 heated gloves. My fingers are fine.

At 32 degrees, I am not even remotely cold.

 

Hand guards and...

Cold: Belstaff's best leather/waterproof insulated winter gloves (no longer sold in USA), in conjunction with silk glove liners. The combination is thick and dexterity-reducing, but reasonably effective.

Really cold: Volt Titan insulated winter gloves. Heated via rechargeable lithium batteries. Leather/waterproof. Warm, not hot. Not expressly designed for riding, but they work well enough.


The prior comment regarding the need for warm hands at the start of the ride is accurate.

When necessary, I also wear the Aerostitch Kanetsu AirVantage electric heated vest. The combination of heat and the added insulative value of the air bladders really works to protect and preserve my core temperature.

 

I started using a Gerbing liner and gloves about 10 or 12 years ago and wondered what the heck it took me so long. Extended the riding season a month on either end.

 

Not gonna let a little cold and ice keep me off the bike... Who needs heated gear anyway...
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Hand guards, heated gloves, and heated grips when it's 30 or less. I will go with only grips if I don't feel like messing with the cord.

You'll be surprised how often you use the grips once you install them. I thought the idea was stupid for this area until I had a bike that had them. I used them often. I'd just gotten used to having cold hands. Now the gloves stay at home most of the time.

I find the hand guards to keep the wind off help both gloves and grips work better.

 

Hand guards, heated gloves, and heated grips when it's 30 or less. I will go with only grips if I don't feel like messing with the cord.

You'll be surprised how often you use the grips once you install them. I thought the idea was stupid for this area until I had a bike that had them. I used them often. I'd just gotten used to having cold hands. Now the gloves stay at home most of the time.

I find the hand guards to keep the wind off help both gloves and grips work better.

Ditto that ... minus the electric gloves.

For my hands, I have ridden down into single digits with hand guards, Oxford Heaterz, Lee Parks DeerTour Pci gloves and now these. They aren't pretty but they are even more effective. Take them off in a minute when it warms up. I've been riding 52 years and at my age I can't afford to give up 3-4 months out of the year. :mrgreen: So I ride 12 months out of the year. I've ridden in the teens and 20s F all day comfortably. I just dress properly for it.

 

I've got a pair of mittens that have a flip back top that exposes half gloves I bought for hunting several years ago. They were only twenty bucks but they keep my fingers drastically warmer than gloves and they don't reduce my feel for the levers much at all.

 

Hippo hands and heated grips keep hands warm with summer gloves. Coldest I've tested is around 34. I don't ride below that. You will need bark busters or something to keep Hippo hands off levers.

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To the OP, I'm not sure if you saw the thread about insulated levers, but I too noticed that the cold metal can lead to cold digits. Some good suggestions over there, though I haven't gotten to try any yet.

http://www.stromtrooper.com/general-v-strom-discussion/163529-insulated-levers.html

 

I've ridden in a lot of cold conditions, and my observation is that our biggest enemy is the cold wind hitting the unprotected hands, wicking away the warmth in the fingers. There just isn't any insulation in the fingers to help keep the body heat in, and the wind doesn't help any.

So the first thing is to keep the wind out. Leather, while it has some effect in keeping the wind out, it is not windproof, and eventually the cold will seep in. So a windproof layer, such as GoreTex or one of the other "tex's" helps with that. Personally, I hate cold fingertips, so I have the Gerbins heated gloves. Alone they are very effective at keeping your fingers warm, but when plugged in, they work great. The only drawback, for me, anyway, is that my hands sweat a lot when hot and when I take the gloves off, the liner wants to pull out if I'm not careful. The negative thing about the Gerbings gloves is that they're bulky and reduce you feel of the controls, but it beats freezing your fingers.

I agree that keeping a warm body core is essential to overall riding comfort, so starting out warm is as important as keeping warm. I wear a FG Kilimanjaro III jacket with a Warm & Safe heated under jacket, and either a flannel or light polar fleece shirt over a tee shirt. I haven't ever been truly cold with that combination.

Lastly, while the OEM hand guards help to keep the wind off the hands, due to aerodynamics, a fair amount of cold airflow gets to the hands, particularly from underneath, as the wind parts at the front of the hand guard, then attempt to join back up to the rear. In the process, it hits your fingertips! It's the same principle as the airflow over an airplane's wing, and why the wing produces "lift." I think the best thing to promote hand warmth is heated gloves or mittens.

 

Lastly, while the OEM hand guards help to keep the wind off the hands, due to aerodynamics, a fair amount of cold airflow gets to the hands, particularly from underneath, as the wind parts at the front of the hand guard, then attempt to join back up to the rear. In the process, it hits your fingertips! It's the same principle as the airflow over an airplane's wing, and why the wing produces "lift." I think the best thing to promote hand warmth is heated gloves or mittens.

I have huge hands, so my methods may not work for other riders, I do not curl my fingers around the grip only my thumb and palm that provides me enuf traction to roll on the throttle, my fingers I keep stretched out straight as if to cover the clutch and brake with all 4 fingers, I find this to be the position where your hands are best sheltered by the handguards

Something I have always kept as backup if even an emergency solution from my first winter of serious winter riding over a decade ago on my nekid 99SV650 was multiple pairs of gloves. for heat, I only had a Ecllipse electric vest I rotated 3 pairs of gloves every 20 minutes over each hour of riding, one pair I am wearing, another pair is tucked indie my jacket but outside my electric vest, and the third pair is tucked inside my electric vest. That way I always had a warm pair on, and could at least preheat the cold glove a bit before I stuffed it up against my innermost layer.

for my coldest weather, I have a not electric pair of gloves that is awesome, in conjunction with my heated grips, they are better than my Gerbings all around, I am trying to limit their use looking for a like or similar pair in my size ro replace them